1. Technical Field of the Invention
Apparatuses and methods consistent with the present invention relate generally to computer network maintenance apparatuses and methods for automatically diagnosing and repairing malfunctions of wireless networks.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recent market research has shown that consumer demand for wireless home networking is driven by the rapid growth of the Internet, high-speed Internet connections and multiple household personal computers (PCs). Wireless networking is one of several ways to connect the computers in a public environment. Wireless networks are designed to allow PCs, peripheral devices, and other consumer electronic devices to share voice and data via a single network.
Wireless networks operate in a client/server model or a point-to-point model. In a client/server model, network components have an access point, which is a wired controller that receives and transmits data to the wireless adapters installed in each network device. In a point-to-point model, a network component communicates directly with every component of the network. Currently, there are four types of wireless networks, comprising Bluetooth networks, infrared data association (IrDA) networks, shared wireless access protocol (SWAP) networks and Wi-Fi networks. The SWAP and the Wi-Fi networks are widely available and are expected to provide the need for high-speed data networks between computers. Both SWAP and Wi-Fi specifications rely on the IEEE 802.11 standard.
Setting up a wireless network requires users to provide information about how to configure the computers, the routers, the firewalls, the Ethernet network addresses, file sharing, printer sharing, Internet connection sharing and other network configuration information. Specifically, to configure a wireless network, a user has to provide a plurality of network settings to enable the proper operation of the network. These settings may comprise the wireless network policy, the type connection type of the wireless network (ie., an access point or a point-to-point), the security level, the wireless network key to be used and other settings. As an ordinary user generally does not have sufficient networking background and is not very familiar with various computer concepts, establishing a wireless network requires support from expert technical personnel.
The complexity of wireless network maintenance introduces even more challenging difficulties. Generally, malfunctions in system network can be a result of various sources, such as improper configurations, malfunctions in one or more network components, malfunctions at the network operator or a combination thereof. Since, a system network is a collection of many network components, provided by different vendors, the ability to diagnose the source of a malfunction by an ordinary user is almost impossible.
Failures experienced by a user are often addressed by having the user call the network operator's technical support and attempt to describe the problem. The technical support personnel then attempts to guide the user through various network tests and settings of the user's network equipment. This is done typically in order to assess the problem more definitively than to rely on the problem description provided by the user. This process is neither effective nor efficient, as users usually report irrelevant effects or symptoms that mask the true problem.
There are diagnostic tools allowing technical support personnel to perform remote testing directly on a user's equipment, for example a user's PC, from a user's perspective. Such tools significantly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the network troubleshooting process. However, such diagnostic tools still require the intervention of technical support personnel for diagnosing failures and for repairing them. Furthermore, these diagnostic tools are not designed for detecting failures that commonly occur in wireless networks.